by Jill | Nov 3, 2012 | Blog, changes, counseling, Faith, fears, google, Jill Osborne, loss, mental health business, private practice, relaxation, scared, small business, stress management, thinking, trauma, Uncategorized
What’s chronic, repetitive, or inflamed in your inner or outer life?
This burning question is personal. There are many things I could say about it. The past year or so of my life have brought out a lot of hurt, joy, tears, laughter, many mixed emotions. Most recently I took on some opportunities in my life that reminded my of the things that I left, and inflamed a lot of mixed emotions, distrust and confusion. Confusion about what God’s will is for my life right now, how to decide if an opporunity is one that Is from God, or just a distraction from what His will actually is in my life. And me,being stubborn would rather take an opportunity and then stress about how to get out of it rather than saving myself the heartache and stress and trusting the path that I believe God has put me on. The repetitive is the constant battle to trust the process, and my practical mind, the need for certainty and to provide for my family financially vs. patience, trust and hearing the whispers of the Holy Spirit in my heart leading me, allowing God to unfold his will for my life openly without reservations. The balance between the “busy syndrome” that often accompanies the profession of counseling, the need to pour out compassion everywhere, and the need for self care and rejuvenation. It is a constant battle and conflict for me, and left unchecked can lead me to stubborn slips of faith. It reminds me of Peter, when he sees Jesus walking on the water towards the boat, he takes one step out, and begins walking towards His Savior, and then loses his focus off Jesus and focuses on the storm, then fear sets in and he falls into the stormy waters. There are several things that I love about this picture. One: Peter has the faith to get out of the boat, and two, Jesus is right there pulling Peter out of the water to bring him back to safety and into the boat. It reminds me that I don’t have to fear, that I can take the steps of faith that are presented to me, and that when I fail Jesus is there to rescue me and bring me back to safety, and showing me that I can Trust Him and His will and place in my life.
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by Jill | Oct 19, 2012 | abuse, Activity Books, Anxiety workbook, Association for Play Therapy, Blog, book search, books, Child Therapy, children, children activity books, children self help, children's activity books, children's books, children's self help, counseling, Creative Therapy
Read the Most Recent Review of Sam Feels Better Now! and Interactive Story for Children.
Benefits of Therapy – Sam Feels Better Now! An Interactive Story for Children
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by Jill | Sep 10, 2012 | afraid, Anxiety, books, Child Therapy, children, children self help, children's books, children's self help, fears, Play therapy interventions, ptsd treatments
I am always looking for ways to explain anxiety to children in a way that they will understand. I use a lot of stories in play therapy because I love the simple way that children’s books present difficult issues. That is why I am glad to have read Please Explain “Anxiety” to Me by Laurie Zelinger, PhD, MS, RPT-S &; Jordan Zelinger, Illustrated by: Elisa Sabella. It begins by using dinasaurs to explain the “fight or flight” response and then relates what they needed to survive with the human fight or flight response. It uses easy to understand terms to help the reader to identify signs of anxiety and understand why people experience anxiety. I have read this story to adult and children who are dealing with post traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. The pictures are colorful and help explain the story visually. I like how it uses a simple illustration and clear explanations of anxiety and how it affects a person. The illustrations are colorful and add to the content of the book. I definitely recommend this book to therapists and parents who need to communicate what anxiety is using concise language.
To Purchase Please Explain “Anxiety” To Me, visit your favorite bookseller:
Barnes and Noble:Available in paperback and Nook format
Amazon: Available in paperback, hardcover and kindle
Loving Healing Press
You can visit Laurie’s website and see the other books she has written and learn more about her services and background as a play therapist. I look forward to seeing future children’s books from this author.
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by Jill | Sep 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
What would you be more of if you let go of the past?
This is a timely question for me, as I go through the month of September I have been thinking and praying a lot about this past year and the transition from agency work (that ended traumatically for me) and going into private practice. There have been ups and downs, and there are still some leftover emotions and fears from last year. To top it off our office is moving at the end of this month and it will be exactly a year from when I left my last job.
So what do I need to let go of? And what would I be more of if I let go of the things from this past year? I let go of the fear that I had about speaking up when I needed help. I let go of the fear of not doing, being, providing, working, giving in, bending to the demands of my job no matter what, even when it meant sometimes fudging boundaries I never should have fudged or moral and ethical attitudes that weren’t the standards I want to uphold. Letting go of feeling like I’m not enough, or like others could succeed at the cost of my success. What I am more of now is more of myself. More of what I believe God has created me to be. Free to succeed by doing His will for my life. Serving my clients with compassion, mercy, support, ethical boundaries, and confidence that I am the right person to help them. Free to expand and explore other areas of my career that I now have the courage to try. I would be so much more joyful if I didn’t have to think about how I was put down, shut out, and worked in a schizophrenic environment, or held on to the fear that somehow I would have to experience that again.
The best part of this whole experience is that I have experienced the true compassion, support, and love of God as He has provided for my family during a time of financial and emotional re-building. I am so thankful to have had this experience, and my faith is fuller, stronger and closer to my God than ever. This is one of those trust and faith building times that has changed my life forever for the better.
A Few Verses for your Soul:
“Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.”
Isaiah 46:4NASB
Jeremiah 29:11-14
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
11 For I know the plans that I [a]have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your [b]fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
25 “For this reason I say to you, [a]do not be worried about your [b]life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the [c]air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single [d]hour to his [e]life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But [f]seek first [g]His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be [h]added to you.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will [i]care for itself. [j]Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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by Jill | Aug 31, 2012 | Alison Gopnik, attachment, babies, Child Therapy, children, children's self help, counseling, education, family therapy, infants, mental health, parenting, parents, Play Therapy
When to worry about kids’ temper tantrums
An interesting article on how to differentiate between normal pre-school aged tantrums and something that is a clue that something more is going on.
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